University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Conference USA Announces Baseball Predictions and Preseason All-Conference Team
1/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Conference USA Announces Baseball Predictions and Preseason All-Conference Team
Tulane, fresh off its appearance in the College World Series, was selected as the preseason favorite. The Green Wave posted a 56-13 record and won both the regular season and tournament titles. Houston, which went to its third-straight NCAA trip last season, was picked to finish second and newcomer East Carolina, coming off a 47-13 season in which they earned a top eight seed and hosted an NCAA Super Regional after winning the Colonial Athletic Association, was picked to finish third.
South Florida, coming off an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, was picked to finish fourth, and Memphis was picked to finish fifth. Charlotte was picked sixth, newcomer TCU seventh, Southern Miss eighth, followed by Louisville, Cincinnati, UAB and Saint Louis.
Jeff Cook was the Golden Eagles only preseason All-Conference USA selection. The junior from Hattiesburg, led Southern Miss in batting average (.339), at bats (245), runs (40), hits (83), doubles (18), triples (3), RBIs (38) and slugging percentage (.510). He also was second on the team with five home runs. He was one of only two players for the Golden Eagles to bat over .300 on the season, as Michael Artman finished at .306.
Tulane's Michael Aubrey was named the preseason player of the year and Charlotte's John Maine was named the preseason pitcher of the year. Also named to the preseason all-conference team was John Maine (P/Jr./Charlotte), Sam Narron (P/Jr./East Carolina), Brad Sullivan (P/So./Houston), Will Brinson (RP/Sr./East Carolina), Chris Hamblen (C/Jr./Cincinnati), Hyung Cho (INF/So./Houston), Anthony Giarratano (INF/So./Tulane), Adam Haley (INF/Jr./Louisville), James Jurries (INF/Sr./Tulane), Myron Leslie (INF/So./South Florida), Michael Bourn (OF/So./Houston), Jeff Cook (OF/Jr./Southern Miss), Jon Kaplan (OF/Jr./Tulane) and Michael Aubrey (UT/So./Tulane).
Southern Miss opens its season against Lipscomb on Friday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m., at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
